Reviews

The quite extraordinary Social Beast – a physical theatre/dance phenomenon – plays differently each night.  On stage there are five physically very varied, highly individual dancers: four women, one man: Liv Bell, Michelle McCowage, Michelle Mayumi Chinen, Jet Min and Sophia Derkenne.  Each wear quite different dance rehearsal clothing. Each of them is the epitome of contained focused energy as they move to Moses Carr’s dynamic live score.

In this utterly entertaining musical, the remarkable Vidya Makan’s thirteen original songs – with orchestration by Heidi Maguire - range in reference across the work of iconic Australian artists from Kylie Minogue to Jimmy Barnes and Paul Kelly.  But here, every song is a show tune, a musical number with precise, energetic and often very funny choreography by Amy Chan. 

Opera Queensland’s latest presentation proves that opera doesn’t always have to come with velvet curtains and serious faces. Supported by government funding and private donors, the company has also taken its music on the road — swapping the grand stage for a more relaxed setting where audiences are encouraged to sing along, laugh, and maybe even forget that opera is meant to be 'formal' in the first place.

To mark its 30th anniversary, the SXS Chamber Ensemble presented a thoughtful program centred on the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann and their close friend Johannes Brahms - a fitting choice, given their enduring influence on the Romantic chamber repertoire. This was no ordinary concert: excerpts from their works were interwoven with spoken verse, some drawn from the composers’ letters and with choreographic interpretations by two dancers, Georgia Lorange and Jai Fauchon, from Queensland Ballet’s Jette Parker Young Artist Program.